Here is a piece of trivia for data center geeks. What other industry consumes the same amount of electricity as data centers? Sewage treatment.

In the U.S., for example, sewage treatment plants use about 1.5 percent of the nation's electrical energy to treat 12.5 trillion gallons of wastewater a year. According to Heidrich and colleagues' calculations, one gallon of wastewater contains enough energy to power a 100-watt light bulb for five minutes.

This article was created to make the point that there is actually 20% more energy in waste waste than previously calculated.